Vancouver Canucks (17-27 SU, -12.5 units)
The Canucks have alternated wins and losses over their last eight games and if that pattern holds true, it should be a good omen for their chances tonight. Last night Vancouver began their six-game Eastern Conference road trip in Washington, DC and the results were not good as they dropped a 4-1 decision to the Capitals. Ryan Miller was back between the pipes after sitting out the last eight games with a groin pull. Miller stopped 36-of-39 with the final tally being an open net for the league leading Caps.

Veteran winger Jannik Hansen was held out for the third consecutive game last night with an upper body injury and his availability for tonight’s game is doubtful. But the Sedin boys will be in action and they are once again the offensive fulcrum of this team. Brother Daniel has 19 goals and 21 assists while Henrik has nine tallies on the season with 28 helpers. Despite the contributions of the Sedin brothers the club is faltering both offensively and defensively. They rank 25th in goals scored with only 2.3 per game while allowing 2.8 goals per game which places them 22nd in the league.

Carolina Hurricanes (20-25 SU, -3.6 units)
Carolina has found its stride recently with back-to-back wins over the Blue Jackets followed by a victory over the Penguins and then last night a stunning 4-1 win over the high-flying St. Louis Blues where the Hurricanes were installed as +135 road dogs by the NHL odds makers. Twenty-three-year-old Jeff Skinner notched his 17th tally of the season and added an assist to keep the good times rolling for Carolina last night. Goaltender Eddie Lack turned aside 23 of 24 shots in the victory.

The ‘Canes are currently ranked 23rd in goals scored averaging a meager 2.4 per game while their defense has not been much better allowing 2.7 goals per game which places them 18th in that category. Carolina’s power play has been more of a power outage this season connecting on only 17.5 percent of their man-advantaged situations (25th). It appears as though Cam ward will get the nod tonight as platoon-mate Eddie Lack was in net for last night’s game.

Betting Analysis
Vancouver is 5-0 straight up over Carolina in their last five games. In their most recent meeting just nine days ago the Canucks won the game by the score of 3-2 with under a minute to play. Eddie Lack was in net for that one and returned to the city (Vancouver) where he played two seasons, "I wanted it. Obviously when I come back like this I wanted it, and it's really tough losing it with a minute to go."

But tonight Lack is out and Cam Ward is in but it won’t make much of a difference because the Canucks simply have the Hurricanes’ number. In their last visit PNC Arena the Canucks blanked the Canes by the score of 3-0 last season. The oddsmakers made that game a pick’em but tonight the line is tilted heavily towards the home team Carolina. While I realize the Hurricanes have been on a tear they are not any better than the visitors in this one and history strongly suggests that no matter where they play, if the opponent is the Vancouver Canucks, they will lose. In addition, the ‘Canes could come out flat tonight after a huge win over the Capitals.

In your NHL picks tonight side with the underdog here who has dominate this series over the last several seasons.